


Saving Grace

by JamtheDingus



Series: The Witch And The Mage [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Gaming, Gen, MMORPGs, Shiro has a pretty bad flashback, Virtual Reality, mild warning for the beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-07 22:56:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11633673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamtheDingus/pseuds/JamtheDingus
Summary: Shiro narrowed his eyes as he began to connect the dots.Hunk avoided his gaze, and Keith crossed his arms and met Shiro’s look head-on.“What did you two do?”“Nothing!” Hunk spoke up too quickly, all too readily admitting his guilt.---The one where Hunk and Keith steal an egg, kick some ass, and totally get away with it, too.





	Saving Grace

**Author's Note:**

> this particular chapter is gen, but the entire series is shiro/hunk in case that's something you don't enjoy <3
> 
> there's about a 40% chance that i'll add a second chapter to this, but in the meanwhile I'm going to mark it as complete because I'm not quite sure if I even want to do that.

A splatter of blood spilled across the cobblestone, soaking into the dirt cracks and staining the grey rock as a permanent reminder of what had happened.

Shiro couldn’t move. An immobilization spell, probably, or maybe he was just in shock.

Shaky fingers reached for his arm, but they felt nothing but air, and a rush of blood the spilled from the wound cut across his forearm.

It hurt so much, but he could barely utter out a sound. The _drip, drip, drip_ of his lifeblood seemed to fall in a rhythmic pattern with his pounding heart.

A ragged inhale in.

Drip-drop goes the blood. His heart screams in his chest for mercy.

A wheezing cry out.

And then –

“Hey, Shiro! I wasn’t expecting to see you on this early.” A slap against his back. He jolted forward, his hands (his _two_ hands) slipping from their grip and sliding across the round table, until he’d all but collapsed across it.

“Oh, whoops.” Lance was quick to help steady him. “Are you okay?”

“‘M fine.” Shiro mumbled quickly, pinching the bridge of his nose, feeling the scar tissue crinkle under his grip. He squeezed his eyes shut so hard that he saw a blooming galaxy behind his eyelids, and had to take a short second to steady his breathing before he turned to Lance with a smile. “I just zoned there, for a minute. What did you say?”

Lance cocked a brow at him, taking a step back. “No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” He gave him a smile, albeit a worried one, and turned on his heel to hop off towards Pidge.

Shiro watched until Lance rounded the half-wall to kneel over their resident Necro before he allowed his tense shoulders to drop, along with his pleasant visage.

His heart felt heavy, and he wasn’t sure if that was a sign that he should log off or find something to keep his mind off of… _it_.

His choice was made for him when Hunk and Keith burst through the front door of their base, the former quickly casting a spell to keep it barricaded.

“Are you two alright?”

Hunk laughed madly, digging around his robe as he muttered to himself.

Keith picked up the slack, effectively locking their door with a large block of wood, hooking it in place with a metal belt.

“We… may have a slight problem.” Keith coughed, flipping his helm from his head to wipe sweat from his brow.

“What did you two do?” Pidge furrowed her brows, stepping forward to brush… _something_ from Keith’s hair. It was oily and thick, yet it crumbled like ash between her fingers, even as it clung to her skin like glue. “What _is_ this?”

“Some kind of spit, I think.” Keith said, shaking his head wildly like a wet dog, and a cloud of the oil-dust settled across his shoulders.

“Spit?”

“Digestive juices, or something.”

“Aha!” Hunk cried out in triumph, yanking his hand from his pockets and pulling out-

“An egg?”

A shiny, large egg, speckled with flecks of ash and gold. It was almost as large as Hunk’s palm (which was quite large in its own right), and it looked heavy and freshly laid by the slick sheen of it.

“Ew.” Pidge grimaced, running her finger across the slime-coated shell. “A wyvern egg?”

“Nope. It’s… something else. But uh… We probably should hide it. And also me and Keith should probably stay inside for a while.”

Shiro narrowed his eyes as he began to connect the dots.

Hunk avoided his gaze, and Keith crossed his arms and met Shiro’s look head-on.

“What did you two do?”

“Nothing!” Hunk spoke up too quickly, all too readily admitting his guilt.

Shiro sighed, and Lance snickered at the witch-berserker duo in front of them. “You two are in trouble.” He sing-songed, even as he curiously stepped forward to inspect the egg as Pidge tried to shine a light through it, using the gem of her staff.

Hunk guiltily looked down, and Shiro couldn’t help his sigh as he dropped his stern look.

“If you two are in trouble, I want to help.”

“ _We_ want to help.” Lance quickly corrected, reaching for his gun.

Keith shared a look with Hunk, who nervously fiddled with his sticky fingers. There was an almost imperceptible nod, and Keith’s shoulders relaxed as he began to dig something out of his pocket.

A tawdry piece of paper, adorned with thick ink and bright colors, was passed Shiro’s way, and Pidge and Lance near hopped on his shoulders to read it along with him.

“A circus?”  Lance said as he squinted at the flyer. “‘Brave travelers - blah, blah, blah… - rare imported goods - yeah, yeah… - Ooh!” He snatched up the paper. “A fire harpy show!”

Pidge gasped, diving forward for the egg. “Tell me you didn’t.”

Hunk grinned at her. “Bring me some firewood?”

She excitedly dashed off to her side of their home, digging deep into her chest of belongings for her _best_ wood.

Shiro pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “Please, tell me you _didn’t_.”

“We stole a harpy egg.” Keith shrugged as he stepped away from the group, beginning the long process of shedding his heavy armor. “Got attacked by the owners, too.”

“We couldn’t just _leave_ it.” Hunk quickly rectified, tugging his cauldron from its perch and summoning water to fill it. “And they were gonna sell it anyway.”

“Wait, wait, _wait._ Tell us _exactly_ what happened.” Pidge said excitedly, bringing forward the requested wood, plus a stand for the egg (which was only normally used for regular bird eggs).

“Well…”

 

\---

 

Keith yawned loudly, flipping his visor up to watch as Hunk shimmied this way and that, casting spells left and right on his garden.

“Thanks for coming with me.” He said, leg halfway up in the air as he balanced on the tips of his toes, one arm pointing to the sky as the other swept through the air in a few simple motions.

“Thanks for repairing my gear.”

Keith hopped from his seat on the fence, careful of the delicate soil beneath his feet. Once, a very long time ago, he’d accidentally trampled all over Hunk’s garden. After that, he swore he would never be the cause of Hunk’s heartbroken face ever again.

The witch could probably bring the entire Galra Faction to its knees with a simple whimper, if he tried.

“Good morning, young men!” A voice sang through the light morning fog, and a tinkling of bells could be heard as the owner of said voice hopped upon the fence Keith had only moments ago vacated. “How has the year been treating you?”

“Fairly, thank you.” Hunk beamed, finishing the last few motions of his spell before he turned to the bell-covered woman. “And yourself?”

“It was quite a giving year.” She began to dig around her dress pockets. “If you’d like, please come and visit my company today! We are hosting a party, to celebrate the early year’s good tidings.” Out of her pocket came a shiny note that floated towards the two with a gentle motion of her hand. “We even have a few exotic exhibitions. You may never get the chance again!”

She hopped from the fence with a hum and a swish of her hips. “Food will be provided, of course!” She serenaded them, voice lilted like a breeze on a summer’s day.

Keith and Hunk glanced at the paper, and when they looked up again the woman had disappeared the way she came, though they could faintly hear her begin her spiel to another nearby pedestrian.

“A festival?” Hunk asked, passing it to Keith as he began to gather up his plants, stuffing them in individual jars and metal cans. The smell of the dirt mixed with the strong perfume from the flyer, and Hunk’s head swam for a moment. Kufaberry, perhaps?

“Something like that.” Keith said, glancing over the words. Then, he frowned, and his entire expression darkened in a way that Hunk rarely saw outside of combat.

“What is it?”

Keith cleared his throat before he began to read the paragraph in front of his face, fingers clenching dangerously tight against the paper.

"'Dear brave travel–’ oh whatever…. ‘To our company's first ever showing of the rare and exotic, feral harpylings. Sign up before the show, and you may be able to take home an egg for yourself, to do with as you choose, among other secondary prizes. Some say they're _delectable_ in vegetable soup, and the shells sell for hundreds of gold.' Blah, blah, blah. ‘Animal trafficking’." Keith grunted, balling the paper up as tight as he could and throwing it in the ground. It looked like it took everything in his power not to stab it through with his sword.

Hunk quickly plucked up the paper and tucked it in his pocket for later reference, stuffing it underneath the dozens of jars that lined his many pockets of his robe.

His entire aura was downtrodden, though, just from what the one paragraph was implying. He met Keith's eyes, who'd been staring him down long before he'd bent to pick up the flyer.

"Keith-"

"I'm going to that festival."

" _Keith_."

"They can't just... give away _babies_ , just because they think of them as playthings." Keith fumed, stomping (carefully) out of the garden to pace back and forth on the dirt path.

"Keith, listen for- like... one second?" Came Hunk's exasperated interjection. "We can't just burst into a _probably well-armed_ caravan and steal stuff. Even if they _are_ really awful for doing this."

Keith opened his mouth to interject, but Hunk waved him off. "We need a good plan first." At that, the berserker perked up instantly, climbing back over the fence to sit down among the half-grown saplings with Hunk. He always was much sneakier than he appeared to be. Keith could always appreciate that in a person.

 

\---

 

It took less than an hour for them to agree on a suitable plan that would fit both of their preferred fighting styles (if it came down to it). What took the longest was both locating the festivities and actually setting eyes upon their target.

Obviously, the travelers were privy to ideas such and Keith's and Hunk's. Surely many had tried to steal both the eggs and the harpies themselves, if only to sell them to line their own pockets.

Today was going to be their unlucky day, though. There were no other groups more stubborn and willful than the one that consisted of a rather pissed-off Keith and a sympathetic Hunk.

It took hours for the sun to set in order to give them that added boost of stealth, and Hunk took that time to prepare spells he hoped he wouldn't have to use on another player. Surely they would be revived sooner rather than later, but that didn't make it any less of an awful feeling.

In that time, Keith had sharpened his sword twice, leveled up just by killing any mobs he could find near them, and ate every single one of the provisions Hunk had gifted him forever ago. Not that Hunk minded. Food was meant to be eaten, of course!

It was a bit hard to concentrate with Keith angrily crunching on something behind him, though.

But- yes. The sun had finally set, and their plan was near full-proof. And even if something went wrong, all they had to do was set loose every harpy they could, and die with as many eggs as they could take. As long as they had them in their inventory once their health ran out, the game would register it as theirs.

Completely full-proof.

 

\---

 

Once it came down to actually breaking and entering, the entire ordeal had went better than Hunk was expecting.

First, they had to clear out those guarding the cage area. Which was actually quite simple. All Hunk needed to do was toss a certain bottle in the middle of everyone, and the resulting plume of magic put everyone right to sleep.

The hard part after that was sneaking into the actual tent without alerting the stage directly to the left of their plot.

And the hardest part was actually dealing with the harpies. They were, obviously, very distrustful of any not of their own kind. Who could blame them, really, seeing as they were constantly captured and hunted for sport.

And, so, it was very hard for the two of them to break them free when they were being slashed at with razor-sharp claws and pushed away by heavy gusts of wind from the strong wings that angrily flapped above their heads.

Luckily, as awful as it may sound, the harpies had been silenced by some sort of spell by their captors. Most likely so they wouldn't disturb the ongoing show.

From the sound of it, the crowd was very pleased, which hopefully meant they would go on for an encore before they started the 'main event'.

Drops of sweat beaded across Hunk's brows, and he eventually just tied his robe off at the waist, the sleeves constantly getting in the way as he picked every lock he could.

As soon as he'd freed the first, he was pushed down by the angry monster, and Keith had to run the creature out of the tent and to freedom. And once the first was free, the rest became full of restless energy to join in the flight; to be able to feel the sky again and be free to spread themselves wide across the clouds.

There were only five in total, and they were much easier to free once Hunk and Keith had earned their cooperation.

Unfortunately, just as they shooed the final harpy from the rusting cage and watched them fly off, a few company members appeared in the doorway, laughter cutting abruptly short as they took in the sight of the thieves right in front of them.

Before they could shout for reinforcements, Keith rushed them, easily taking one down with a well aimed shoulderguard to the gut.

The second reared back so quickly that their hat literally spun on top of their head. Hunk would've laughed if he wasn't so terrified about the way their fingers sparked as they reached straight for Keith's head.

Quicker than he thought was possible, Hunk got into his preferred combat stance and shot off two spells in succession, stunning the attacker with a light spell before the second spell of darkness blinded them. Their attack barely grazed the top of Keith's head, who dove off of his unconscious opponent as soon as he realized what had happened, and they cried out as a sword was soon stabbed in their gut.

Both of the enemies disappeared with a gust of particles; a sad and just a tad corny melody played, signifying their character death.

Hunk took that opportunity to shove himself towards where he assumed the eggs would be, hidden in a crate in the corner. The lid was weighed down with heavy sacks of sand, probably there in case of a fire, and it took both of their combined strength to shove all three burlaps onto the floor.

Inside was a single egg. Which was... _strange_ considering the fact that the crate was a little over waist-length, and was barely stuffed full of anything to cushion impact.

Hunk didn't have time to ponder the strange enigma. Not when angry shouts echoed through the tent, just barely audible over the roaring crowd behind them.

Hunk hurriedly stuffed the egg in one of his pockets, stuffing fistfuls of hay in along with it. If _they_ wouldn't take the time to properly care for the egg, Hunk sure as hell would-- if only to spite them.

"Time to go." Keith said, back against the wall as he listened to the thumping of angry feet that ran towards him.

There was only one egg in the room, which either meant there were more rooms, or that they'd only had one at all. Hunk prayed to every heaven above that the latter was the case. "Right behind you."

 

\---

 

"And that's what happened."

Pidge pointed to Keith's messy head. "What about the... spit?"

"Oh, yeah- no. We got caught on the way out. They had like a giant pet snake or something. It tried to eat Keith whole." Hunk laughed, tousling Keith's hair as the latter grumbled at the memory. "It was pretty gross."

"It smelled gross." Keith complained. "I'm going to go wash off."

As he left the room, Lance shouted after him. "Use soap, you gross wildman!"

Keith poked his head back in just to flick him off, and Lance muttered rude words under his breath.

"So... now we have a baby harpy."

Pidge made a noise that sounded like a choked squeal. The egg itself was now firmly nestled in its stand, and about half of it was submerged in lightly simmering water, to keep it at a steady temperature without burning the egg off. "I can't believe we have a baby harpy."

And, well, while Shiro was a little bit perturbed that they'd caused an upset, he couldn't blame them for having their hearts in the right place.

And having their own harpy would be pretty cool, even if they released it as soon as it was self-sufficient.

As Hunk stoked the fire beneath the fire-harpy egg, Pidge plopped a few books onto the table, pulling up a barrel to climb upon as she flipped through the pages. She was probably looking up how to care for baby harpies, if Shiro knew her as well as he thought he did.

"Can I name it?" Lance asked, lightly running the tip of his fingers against the smooth shell.

"I'll rock-paper-scissors you for it." Pidge piped up.

Shiro snorted at them, moving over towards their little witch-thief as the two of them began their showdown.

Behind them, the door was no longer being battered down with fists and spells, and it was very eerily quiet. Shiro wasn't too worried about break-ins, though. Everyone did their best to ensure that their base was as secure as possible, especially after the first time they were invaded.

He crossed his arms as he observed Hunk, watching as he carefully kept the fire at what was probably the preferred temperature for the harpy.

"You know, I never expected it would be you, out of all of us, that would make enemies with an entire travelling caravan." Shiro teased.

"It wasn't just me!" Hunk pouted. "But I'm glad I did it."

Shiro shrugged a shoulder, glancing over to a window as the night cycle started. Before he realized it, his fingers were digging into his arm so tightly that the metal creaked. He moved that hand to run across his nose scar instead, offering a soft, if not strained, smile to Hunk.

"I'm glad you did, too."

**Author's Note:**

> n i c e
> 
> hunk and keith make the best team i s2g i love those boys
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Thanks so much for reading. <3


End file.
